NAIROBI, Kenya — None of the three most-wanted al-Qaida suspects believed to be hiding inside southern Somalia was killed by a U.S. airstrike earlier this week, a senior U.S. official here said Thursday.

“The three high-value targets are still of intense interest to us,” said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The attack Sunday night by a U.S. Air Force AC-130 killed eight to 10 people believed to be tied to al-Qaida, according to the official.

Previous reports from other U.S. and Somali sources suggested that among the dead might be suspects in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, or the 2002 bombing of a Kenyan seaside resort and a subsequent missile attack against an Israeli airliner.

In an interview Thursday with BBC’s Somali-language news service, U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger confirmed that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who is wanted by the FBI for his alleged role in the 1998 attack, has not been captured or killed.

According to the senior official, the other two al-Qaida suspects are also still at large, likely hiding in Somalia. They are Abu Taha Sudani of Sudan, who is accused of planning the 2002 Paradise Hotel bombing, and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan of Kenya, also wanted in connection with the hotel attack.

The official said that the three men were not the primary objective of Sunday’s U.S. attack, which instead was aimed at a separate but “significant” al-Qaida affiliate who was moving with a group of about 20 individuals.

Amid mounting criticism over reports of ongoing U.S. airstrikes and claims that scores of civilians have died, Ranneberger launched a public-relations offensive Thursday, insisting that the U.S. only launched a single strike and there were no civilian casualties.

“It’s been troubling to see these reports about bombing and all these activities killing civilians,” he told BBC. “I can tell you categorically that no civilians were killed or injured as a result of that action.”

U.S. involvement in Somalia, its first overt military intervention in the country since 1994, has set off a flurry of criticism and anti-America sentiment throughout East Africa. The banner headline Tuesday in one of Kenya’s largest daily newspapers read: “U.S. Warplane Rains Death on Somalia.”

Somali government officials and witnesses claim scores of civilians have been killed by ongoing airstrikes in more than half a dozen villages around southern Somalia, with reports of new strikes as late as Wednesday. Officials suspect Ethiopia, which sent 4,000 troops to Somalia last month, may be involved in some of the strikes. The Ethiopian government has not commented.

Watira Suldan Farah, mother of five, said Thursday that she fled her home village of Butiya shortly before it was attacked Wednesday by a “large white plane with a black tail. I don’t know what kind of plane it was. People were saying it was an AC-130. All I know is that it was doing a terrible bombing.”

Another report claimed that five clan elders trying to reach the port city of Kismayo on Wednesday were shot to death by a gunship.

“We are victims,” said Hussein Tarabi, who said he lost 30 cattle in an airstrike against his village Wednesday. “We ask the U.S. government to stop the genocide and give us compensation. This is against humanity.”

On Wednesday, watchdog group Amnesty International said the reports of heavy civilian casualties raised questions about whether the U.S. military had violated international law.

But U.S. officials insist they have not carried out any additional airstrikes since Sunday. The senior official said it was possible that Ethiopia was engaged in air attacks in pursuit of fighters with Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union. Ethiopia helped Somalia’s transitional government crush the once-powerful alliance of religious leaders and continues to launch operations to capture or kill remnants of the Islamic movement.

Somali politician Abdirashid Mohamed Hidig said he witnessed airstrikes on Tuesday, which he said were conducted by the United States and Ethiopia. He told reporters at least 50 civilians were killed.

Abdirahman Dinari, spokesman for the transitional government, dismissed such reports. Although Dinari previously told local reporters that the U.S. attacks were ongoing through Tuesday, he said Thursday that there was only one U.S. strike.

“The only casualties we know about are the eight people,” he said. “The rest is propaganda intended to mislead the people.” Dinari denied that Ethiopia has conducted any airstrikes in Somalia.

U.S. officials said operations to capture or kill the three al-Qaida suspects will continue. Five U.S. naval ships have been dispatched to the region.

Special correspondent Abukar Albadri in Mogadishu contributed to this report.